Port gains approval in Thames Gateway

Catherine Early, Planning, 1 June 2007

The London Gateway scheme at Shellhaven will comprise up to seven container vessel berths and a roll-on roll-off facility along 2.7km of the quayside on the site of the former Shell oil refinery in Thurrock.

Developer DP World plans to invest about £1.5 billion in the project over the next ten to 15 years. Construction is planned to begin later this year, with the first occupiers being in place within 12 to 18 months and the port operational from 2010.

DP World chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said: "This is the single biggest investment project for DP World. It represents our long-term commitment to bringing benefits and value to our customers and to the UK economy."

The port will provide 1,900 jobs, with thousands more in a logistics and business park next to the port. A public inquiry into the development was held in 2003. An inspector recommended conditions to mitigate the scheme's impact, particularly on the roads network.

The government issued two letters of approval (Planning, 18 August 2006, p2). No development could take place until its concerns over congestion were allayed, it insisted. Transport minister Gillian Merron said: "It has taken time to finalise this decision. But it was right to consider it carefully."

Essex County Council head of planning and transportation Paul Bird said he is pleased that DP World has provided almost £1.25 million for road upgrades in the immediate area. However, he added: "A scheme of this scale and complexity needs more than one access road."

Ports expert Martin Hendry, a director at Adams Hendry Consulting, said: "It would be good to think that the importance of an international port has finally been recognised as the catalyst for building a sustainable city in the Thames Gateway."

But he cautioned: "I hope that this will not be simply a port with a distribution depot behind it."